One Night in Miami review: Regina King crafts a stunning directorial debut

A quartet of near-flawless performances, combined with a razor-sharp script and some apt direction from first-time director Regina King, make One Night in Miami a stunning portrait of four American icons.

Awards season, though postponed, is slowly but surely creeping us on us, and it looks like yet again, Regina King will be a name to watch — but this time, not as an actress. The directorial debut of the Academy and Emmy award-winning actress, One Night Miami is a gripping portrait of four American icons who met up for one unforgettable evening that would set the course of all of their lives. Anchored by four near-flawless performances, the film is a knockout debut for director Regina King, and a surefire awards contender that’s more than worth of every bit of praise it garners.

On one fateful night (February 25, 1964) four American greats — Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge), Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.), and Cassius Clay (Eli Goree) — meet up at the Hampton House motel in Miami to celebrate Clay’s new title as world heavyweight champion. Over the course of the evening, as the men drink, celebrate, and commiserate, discussions and arguments break out over their clashing ideologies in regard to the civil rights movement and the role they play — as well as their own individual inner demons that bubble to the surface at some point over the evening.

From an outside perspective, choosing the film adaption of a play as one’s first directorial endeavor is a bold and interesting choice on King’s part. Plays can be notoriously difficult to adapt for the screen, even for the most experienced of directors, but we’d argue that King’s direction and staging here bests some other stage-to-screen films from this year. The film shares some traits with Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, but we may just prefer One Night in Miami when things come down to it.

Though the camera movement is rarely ever flashy or even all that noteworthy, the direction works nonetheless because it lets the actors and their dialogue shine as opposed to trying to impress with dazzling visuals. It’s the right choice, too. When you have a script as strong as Kemp Powers’ writing, and actors as good as the main quartet, the decision to let the camera showcase them is the right one, and speaks to King’s ability to understand when restraint is the best course of action.

In terms of the actors themselves, One Night in Miami is the kind of stunning rarity where not a single performance can be faulted. Each man gets his own adequate time to shine, but even when he’s not leading, they’re all bantering easily between them. It’s the kind of inherent chemistry that can’t be forced. It just flows because the casting is so squarely spot on.

Although, as mentioned, all four men get their time in the spotlight, the film’s most prominent figure is Kingsley Ben-Adir as Malcolm X, in a turn that’s equal parts heartbreaking, endearing, and magnetic.

Ben-Adir brings the ferocity and passion required to bring to life such an iconic figure in American history, but he also has a vulnerability and sincerity that make his portrayal not just powerful, but hypnotic. He’s hardly ever a loud figure in the room. His passion flows from his words, his stature, his gestures, as opposed to the volume of his voice. But with every step he takes, he also carries a very visible weight with him — the paranoia that only a man as notorious as Malcolm X would be justified in having. Though his assassination isn’t shown (only referred to in the film’s closing titles) the shadow of his impending murder hangs over the film via a pair of FBI agents who watch him from afar.

It’s incredible the kind of depth that Ben-Adir and King are able to put into a character who’s just a single piece of an ensemble puzzle, and although more of him would’ve bogged down or stepped on the toes of other characters’ plotlines, we still wish we could get an entire show or film with Ben-Adir as Malcolm X, because his performance is so utterly captivating. His passionate, argumentative moments are strong, of course, but the moments in which he truly shines are the quieter ones, when he’s on the phone with his daughter or having moments of self-doubt while deep in conversation with Jim Brown.

Where Malcolm X has the most screen time of the four, it’s Aldis Hodge’s looming football great Jim Brown who has the least — but that doesn’t mean he’s any less impactful. While none of the four could be considered shy or quiet, Brown is often, oddly enough, the most ruminative and steady of the four. He doesn’t speak all that often, but drops pearls of wit and wisdom when he does. We found ourselves innately drawn to Hodge’s performance (and no, not just because he’s handsome). He has the kind of presence and quality to his voice that, when he speaks, you want to listen. Though his aforementioned conversation with Malcolm X about colorism is certainly a highlight, the most brutal (and memorable) of Brown’s scenes comes via his introduction: a gut punch of a scene beautifully directed by King and featuring a brief but masterful turn by Beau Bridges.

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While Malcolm X and Jim Brown’s conversations are passionate but calm — in a poetic sort of manner — X’s clashes with crooner Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr., who lends both his acting chops and his buttery smooth vocals to the role of Cooke), whose wealth and success X resents because he believes it’s come at the cost of Cooke’s willingness to cater to white people with his music. It’s through Brown and X’s clashes that Powers’ script is at its strongest. The two have fierce and frequent discussions over the kind of role that Black celebrities are obligated to take in the then-burgeoning civil rights movement.

Not only is the dialogue spectacular, but the performances as well. Odom Jr. goes toe to toe with Ben-Adir, balancing the cocky public persona Cooke puts on with the internal struggles of a man who’s acutely aware of his own failings. His acting is gut-wrenching, of course, but it’s his haunting performance of “A Change is Gonna Come” (played in the film’s final moments, a montage of what happened to all four men after that night) that will stay with us for years to come.

Rounding out the quartet is Cassius Clay, the man of the hour, whose victory the group has gathered to celebrate. Clay is the youngest and most visibly uncertain of the group. He’s summoned X to watch him fight and act as his spiritual advisor because he plans on converting to Islam. But as big as his showboating persona is, there’s very clear indecision just beneath the surface – and Clay questions his decision to convert, as well as his own ability as a fighter. The role is a little less meaty than the other three, but he gets some of the film’s most endearing moments, as well as landing a majority of the funniest one-liners. (It’s a surprisingly funny film, with all four men getting their proper licks in at times.) As the soon-to-be Muhammad Ali, Eli Goree has the easy, infectious energy of a young fighter just reaching his prime — and his youth and innocence light up the room, bringing much needed levity in some of the film’s heaviest moments.

Though not particularly flashy, One Night in Miami is still able to demand and capture our attention through its masterful dialogue and pitch-perfect casting. The first half hour of the film is admittedly a little slow, but once things pick up, they continue to build and never stop. A masterclass in ensemble acting that’s a perfect example of a how a film can soar when you play to your actors’ strengths, One Night in Miami is just as entertaining as it is powerful, with an unerring message at its core that transcends far beyond that one incredible evening.

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Have you seen One Night in Miami? Who’s your favorite ’60s musician? Sound off in the comments below.

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